123D Make

Tried various laser cutting methods on 123D Make. Radical slices, curve and interlocked slices provided a waffling option, whilst stacked slices was the layering of material.

Stacked Slices: Stacked slices did not give a nice curved surface for the metal to be formed over.

Radical Slices: Radical slices had issues with the waffling and joining of the slices, the elements highlighted in blue not joining to anything. Increasing the number of the 1st axis or radical count did not fix this issue, as it caused many more parts to be not connected to other pieces.

Curve: Curve was similar to interlocked slices however the slots created were at an angle, and could have proved difficult to join together once it was cut out.

Interlocked Slices: Finally interlocked slices was chosen as it proved to create a nice curved surface for the aluminium skin to be formed over as well as being the most practical waffling solution.

Plywood was chosen to be used in making this object, as it a relatively strong material, however the plywood will probably not be strong enough for the aluminium skin to be hammered over.

Also on 123D Make the scale of the object was doubled, since the curving around the thinner parts of the object could possibly become an issue.




File for Laser Cutting

123D Make plans exported into PDF

Once the plans where exported as a PDF, they were opened in Adobe Illustrator and the colours of the line changed to be suitable for the laser cutter. Red lines (R:255 G:0 B:0) for cuts at stroke 0.001mm (0.025points).

The file had to be changed to be 600x200mm instead of the conventional 600x300mm layout because the workshop had no plywood sheets left in that size. The same dimensions for the object pieces were retained, however it had to be exported in a portrait format and rotated in Illustrator.

The file was then transferred to the lab computer and was printed to the laser cut machine.